CFK reports from: Keeping Kids in the Child Welfare System After 18
Event: A Web conference
Organized by: Chapin Hall Center for Children
Where/When: On the Web, Wednesday, March 1, 2006, 1 pm ET
Report by: Susan Phillips
This one-hour discussion brought together six panelists to discuss the experiences of Illinois with allowing children in the foster care system to choose to remain as wards of the state past the age of 18, up to age 21.
Illinois is one of several jurisdictions that allow for this, but most states require children to leave the system at 18. However, the idea of extending care past 18 is getting more attention, thanks in part to research showing the difficulties many former foster youth have in navigating the transition to adulthood.
The panelists agreed that since complete adult independence at 18 is increasingly unusual in our society, it is important to find ways to extend care for those in the child welfare system who are not ready for independent living.
Erwin McEwen, deputy director of monitoring and quality assurance at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, said that the idea of remaining in foster care past 18 is often resisted by teens. "It goes to the core of a cooperation issue. By the time they reach 18, a lot of kids are tired of cooperating. They're tired of having the state run most aspects of their lives."
Judge Sybil Thomas of the Cook County Juvenile Court presides over "Benchmark Hearings," which are intended to oversee and assist the transition of adolescent wards from state guardianship to independence. Thomas said that after 18, if wardship is extended, "We really listen to the minor in terms of which direction they would like to go. Some are very comfortable staying with their foster family. Some are not, and really want independence."
Asked to identify some model program for transitioning young people, researcher Mark Courtney said he thought it "more useful to think in terms of broad policies than particular programs...the provision of the types of things that parents provide to their children during this transition period. Health insurance. Continuity of mental health services. Housing. Half of the people between 18 and 24 in this country are living at home. Advice...when you fall on your back, somebody is there to help you up."
Judge Thomas noted that most of the children who remain in care that she sees at benchmark hearings have a lot of things they need to work on before they can be successfully independent: getting a GED, learning to manage finances, applying to college, etc. And many have been in multiple placements—she mentioned one young person who had been in 17 different foster care placements—which has led to disruptions in their education.
While there are federal funds available to help this population of young people attend college, the panelists noted that they still need support if they are going to succeed, such as a place to stay during holidays and vacations, and someone to go to for advice and support if schoolwork becomes overwhelming.
The conference was moderated by Martha Shirk, a journalist specializing in child welfare and juvenile justice issues; other panelists included Jennifer Pokempner of the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia and Lawrence Grazian of the Child Protection Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County.
More information is available through Chapin Hall [1].